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Rating: 1.5 out of 5
It had been twenty years since Sylvester Stallone graced the screen as John Rambo. The Rambo series has gone down the drain to almost laughable as time has passed. Twenty years is a freakin long ass time to not play a character and grace the screen again. It was said that Stallone didn’t want to reprise the character, and he should’ve stuck to it. Listen, there are some great things about this film, and then there are some awful things. Get ready because Rambo is about to take a ride full of violence and blood.
Sylvester Stallone decided to direct and co-write this film. The story lacks, but Stallone went full throttle on the gore and killing. Twenty years after the events in Afghanistan, Vietnam War veteran John Rambo (Stallone) is still living in Thailand, making a living as a snake catcher and providing boat rides. There is a political protest of the Saffron Revolution in Burma. The ruthless SPDC officer Major Pa Tee Tint leads a Burmese regime army force in pillaging small villages in a campaign of fear. His men take pleasure in playing a game where they have villagers run through a field while evading mines in the water field. Wanting to avoid the conflict, Rambo is approached by a group of Christian human rights missionaries led by Michael Burnett (Schulze) and Sarah Miller (Benz). Rambo advises them not to go, but they ignore him, saying that the people need help. After some internal conflict, Rambo accepts the offer and takes Michael, Sarah, and the rest of the missionaries up the river. When the missionaries finally arrive at their village, it is attacked by the sadistic Major Pa Tee Tint and a slew of Burmese army men. Many villagers are tortured and killed, while others are held as prisoners. Hearing of their disappearance, the minister in charge of the mission hires a group of mercenaries and asks Rambo to transport them with his boat as he knows their last location. Rambo seeing that his past has caught up to him decides to fight and save everyone from the evil Major.
The story is really meh or blah to be honest. I feel like it is the same story that has been told. A group of missionaries wanting to save people, and everyone around them says it is a bad idea because of some war going on. The missionaries refuse to listen and get captured. Someone has to save their dumb ass because they wouldn’t listen and need help. How about helping people in your home country first. Probably plenty of shit going on there. Well, they get captured, and it is up to a group to save them.
What I didn’t like is that the film always has some pain-in-the-ass person that doesn’t believe in the main character. They always talking shit and when it gets heated are the first to be out. The mercenaries try to do their thing and are about to be caught when Rambo goes into full killing mode. Everyone looks at Rambo with shock. Yes, the dude is a badass and can probably kill all of y’all in a split second. Long story short, the group manages to save the prisoners but is soon pursued by the Major’s army.
That is enough of the story. We don’t watch Rambo movies for the story anymore. We watch them to see how violent this broken man can be. Stallone let Rambo loose on the violence. He might have gone over the top with the violence because you see people dismembered, explosions, guts everywhere, and things that will probably not make you sleep at night. The famous scene that became a meme was when Rambo snuck up behind that one soldier, killed him, took the machine gun, and started blasting everyone away. One scene does stand out in the violence. When Michael is attacked by a soldier, he picks up a rock and kills him. That isn’t God’s work right there, but hey, survival of the fittest, and you had to do what you had to do.
I will give it up to Stallone for his direction and performance. It might not be the greatest and best of his career, but after twenty years from the character, he did a nice job. His performance was the high point as you saw a war-drawn soldier not wanting to fight but brought back into the fold. He was reserved and wanted to keep to himself, but the past and those demons always have a way of returning to haunt you.
Rambo is one of those films that is mindless action and violence. If you want a movie to put on in the background, this is the film for you. Just watch the original and be off to better and simpler things.
